NHL

Not everyone in the NHL goes to the cottage in August.

Some–like Nazem Kadri–spent their offseason sweating out where they would play next season and beyond. Kadri got to kick his feet up and relax Thursday after he signed a seven-year, $49 million contract with the Calgary Flames.

Kadri was supposed to wind up on Long Island, instead he’s headed for the Canadian Rockies. More importantly for the Flames, they found a way to complete a roster shakeup that was not planned for when they were eliminated from the playoffs by their bitter rival Edmonton Oilers at the end of May.

The salary cap-pushing Flames weren’t done there. They traded Sean Monahan and a conditional 2025 first-round pick (with some wild conditions) to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. Monahan, headed into the final year of his contract, has a $6 million cap hit which is plenty enough to help Calgary get under the upper limit.

Making the moves is one thing but making them work is something else entirely. That’s why we’re going to give snap judgments and decide who won and who lost out of all this.

Winner: Nazem Kadri

A staggering choice for a winner, right?

Kadri went from being a playoff liability for whatever team he played for to a key performer for the Colorado Avalanche in winning the Stanley Cup. It also helps he is coming off an out-of-this-world career season in which he had 87 points (his previous career-high was 61 in 2016-2017). It was the perfect storm of a season for a solid player heading into free agency and he came away with the bag.

He locked up a long-term deal and a payout that will give him the highest cap hit on the Flames this season (Huberdeau's eight-year, $84 million extension begins next season). Kadri will be 32 when the season begins, which means this deal will take him until he's nearly 39 years old and at the likely end of his career. If Calgary can recreate some of the Avalanche’s high-octane offense, it’ll lean into Kadri’s strengths and allow him the chance to recreate the success he had last year.

Loser: Lou Lamoriello

Kadri was supposed to be an Islander. The rumors and speculation all pointed in that direction, and it didn’t happen. After all, there was virtually no hints for nearly a month about what was going on with Kadri and when there’s radio silence, that generally points toward Isles GM Lou Lamoriello being involved.

Think back to last season when the only thing that pointed toward Zach Parise and Zdeno Chara signing with the Islanders was a lot of speculation. It wasn't until September that those signings were announced just ahead of training camp. The logic made sense that Kadri would be headed to Long Island because it followed a similar pattern.

Kadri is a big-name player available and would’ve addressed a need. He also would’ve made Isles fans a bit happier about the team which hasn’t announced a player move since they traded their 2022 first-round pick to Montreal for Alexander Romanov and a fourth rounder at the draft.

While it’s likely Lamoriello has made some moves and kept them quiet (they have a few RFAs to re-sign) silence is not golden and it's arguable the Islanders have not improved a roster that wildly underperformed last season.

Winner: Flames GM Brad Treliving right now

At the rate we’ve handed out W’s to Treliving we might have to get a championship belt made for him.

He had the unenviable position of watching MVP forward Johnny Gaudreau decide he wanted to go back East to be nearer to family and sign long-term with Columbus. That move set in motion Matthew Tkachuk wanting to leave town, which he turned into a blockbuster deal sending Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar. Swapping out Sean Monahan, who has been a disappointing player the past few seasons, for Kadri can only be seen as an upgrade at that position.

It would've been very easy for Treliving to strip it all down after Gaudreau left and Tkachuk wanted out, but it’s taken Calgary so long to get back to a position where they’re contenders in the Western Conference that giving up on that hope now would’ve been defeating for everyone involved. Where there’s a window of opportunity, closing it yourself means not being a GM for much longer. Taking a shot at winning it all earns a lot of credit.

Loser: Brad Treliving in four years

It’s not all rainbows and puppies for Calgary because there may be stormy times down the road.

The moves they’ve made this summer are vital to helping them get a shot at a Stanley Cup within the next two to three years. Further down the road is when things may get dicey.

In four years, their key players right now will be deeper into their 30s and under contract for big hits against the cap. Kadri ($7 million) will be 35, Huberdeau ($10.5 million) will be 33, Blake Coleman ($4.9 million) will be 34, Jacob Markstrom ($6 million) will be 36 and in the final year of his contract. The next contracts for a handful of players (including Andrew Mangiapane, Tyler Toffoli, Dillon Dube, Juuso Välimäki)–if they retain them–could (would?) come at a higher cost.

In general, GMs must keep their eyes further ahead in time to make sure their team can stay stocked with talent long-term. But the lure of the Cup is strong, and when they feel they’re close enough to taste it, the idea of having a host of players on the back-nine of their career becomes a “we’ll deal with it when we get there” situation. If Treliving is there to handle it, he’ll at least know what the plan is.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 season because of a knee injury that has not responded well to treatment, general manager Kent Hughes told reporters Thursday.

Hughes added that it's unlikely Price can return to action by just rehabbing his knee and that an operation would be required. The veteran netminder will likely be placed on long-term injured reserve, per Eric Engels of Sportsnet.

Price underwent offseason knee surgery in the summer of 2021 and, while recovering, announced that he had voluntarily entered the NHL and NHLPA's player assistance program in October:

"Over the last few years, I have let myself get to a very dark place and I didn't have the tools to cope with that struggle. I made the decision to enter a residential treatment facility for substance abuse. Things had reached a point that I realized I needed to prioritize my health for both myself and for my family. Asking for help when you need it is what we encourage our kids to do, and it was what I needed to do."

Due to a number of setbacks in his recovery, Price missed all but five games of the 2021-22 season. He went 1-4-0 in his return to the lineup with a 3.63 goals-against average and .878 save percentage.

Since putting pen to paper on an eight-year, $84 million contract in July 2017, Price has not lived up to expectations, posting a 91-86-24 record with a 2.77 GAA, .908 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 203 games, including 200 starts.

Through the first 10 years of his career, he was one of the best in the NHL, posting a 270-175-55 record with a 2.40 GAA, .920 save percentage and 39 shutouts in 509 games (500 starts).

Price also won the 2014-15 Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender, won the 2014-15 Hart Trophy as the MVP and was also selected to the All-Star team in 2014-15. He hasn't finished among the top three in Vezina Trophy voting since the 2016-17 campaign.

The British Columbia native has four more years on his contract with an average annual value of $10.5 million. Placing him on LTIR will give the Canadiens more salary cap flexibility, which is greatly needed following the acquisition of Sean Monahan from the Calgary Flames.

According to CapFriendly, the Habs are currently over the salary cap by $6.1 million.

With Price expected to be sidelined in 2022-23, the Canadiens will have to rely on a combination of Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault in goal.

Allen started 35 games for Montreal last season and posted a 9-20-4 record with a 3.30 GAA and .905 save percentage. Montembeault, meanwhile, started 30 games for the Habs and posted an 8-18-6 record with a 3.77 GAA and .891 save percentage.

Montreal finished the 2021-22 season with a 22-49-11 record and the team isn't expected to compete for a playoff spot this coming season either despite selecting Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in the 2022 NHL draft.

It's the middle of August, and Nazem Kadri is still a free agent. It's almost unthinkable, but it makes you wonder if he's signed with the one team that has a general manager who doesn't see it necessary to announce signings.

That team is the New York Islanders, and that general manager is Lou Lamoriello. There appeared to be some smoke when Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported an offer on the table for the former Colorado Avalanche center. However, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff extinguished that fire last week when he said that Kadri turned it down and is still talking to other teams.

There are fans in the New York area who are hoping that maybe Kadri is, in fact, an Islander already and that there will be a reveal in training camp. Anyone familiar with the way Lamoriello operates knows that he works in total secrecy. But this is a little shortsighted.

If Kadri had already signed a contract, it would have passed through the NHL Central Registry. I find it hard to believe that multiple insiders wouldn't find out about a transaction of that magnitude. Could he have a handshake deal in place with the Islanders? It's certainly possible.

But does it even make sense for this club? He would make the Islanders better, but it's not exactly a good fit.

Positional Fit

The Islanders already have three centers in Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Kadri, a Stanley Cup winner coming off an 87-point season, isn't signing with a team to play on the fourth line. He could move out to the wing, but two sources have told me that he isn't as effective there.

It's worth noting that he played on the wing during the Stanley Cup Final and did well there. The Avs wanted to minimize the impact on his injured thumb, so a move to the wing prevented him from having to take faceoffs.

He scored a goal in Game 4 of the Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning (although Jon Cooper probably still thinks it shouldn't have counted).

If moving Kadri to the wing is the plan, the Islanders will need to clear some salary-cap space. The logical candidate to be moved is winger Anthony Beauvillier, who does not have no-trade protection and has a cap hit of $4.2 million over each of the next two years.

You could make the argument for Pageau, but Lamoriello gave up a lot to acquire him in 2020 and is unlikely to give up on a player that took so much to get.

Pageau might not produce points at the same rate as Kadri, but he kills penalties, he's a better defender and he's two years younger than Kadri, who will turn 32 in October. His $5 million cap hit doesn't break the bank, and he's signed at that number through 2025-26.

Not to mention, Pageau has a limited no-trade clause.

Is Lamoriello looking for some blockbuster move like trading Barzal? I sincerely doubt it. Barzal is only 25 and a top center in the league. Ownership would be foolish to sign off on that trade.

But speaking of Barzal, we need to look at the salary cap.

Salary-Cap Fit

The Isles currently have a little more than $11 million in cap space this season, but they still need to re-sign restricted free agents Kieffer Bellows, Alexander Romanov and Noah Dobson.

Barzal's bridge deal only runs through 2023, making him an RFA next summer. Scott Mayfield and Semyon Varlamov will be unrestricted free agents next summer, and goaltender Ilya Sorokin will be one in two years. Sorokin had the second-best save percentage in the league last season, and he makes this club a contender.

The Isles would be smart to keep Varlamov, a very good backup, around this year as well, considering how tough the goalie market is right now. They could probably trade him to the Vegas Golden Knights to clear cap space, but there aren't any good options for backups left on the market, and Bridgeport goalie Ken Appleby isn't the answer either.

That's a lot of business for Lamoriello to take care of, and he will need to plug some holes in the coming years.

Kadri might want $9 million per year, but getting that money on Long Island would mean the club would have to part with key talent. And even though he reportedly wants to play for a contender, the reality is that he might not be able to get that kind of money from one. The flat cap isn't going up by much anytime soon, and close to half of the league is already over the cap.

Is He Really Needed?

Isles fans see this as adding offense to a team that didn't generate a whole lot of it last season. New York's 2.79 goals per game was 10th-worst in the league. Adding a two-time 30-goal scorer would help with the quest for offense and could bring some excitement to the new UBS Arena.

Fans have every right to be frustrated by Lamoriello's seeming inaction this summer. He traded away a first-round pick for Romanov, who has shown promise but did struggle with the Montreal Canadiens. He fired a popular coach in Barry Trotz and promoted Trotz's longtime assistant, Lane Lambert. He whiffed on Johnny Gaudreau.

But this team was only a game away from the Stanley Cup Final last summer. The 2021-22 Islanders were undone by a brutal travel schedule, COVID-19 and injuries to key players. Trotz's defensive system doesn't really produce a lot of offense, but Lambert can now put his own stamp on the team by having them play in a way that facilitates more scoring.

This is a loaded Metropolitan Division, with the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets looking ready to jump back into the postseason fray. The New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes are still contenders, and the Washington Capitals should be a playoff team, too.

Adding Kadri but subtracting a young, cost-controlled player like Beauvillier or a backup goalie like Varlamov doesn't make this club that much better than it already is right now, especially if he has to move to the wing.

There are a lot of pros to adding someone like Kadri, but there might be just a few more cons for the Isles.

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All salary cap info courtesy of CapFriendly.com

The Vegas Golden Knights are in deep trouble, and they’re still more than a month away from the start of training camp.

On Thursday, Vegas announced goalie Robin Lehner will miss the entire 2022-2023 season after he undergoes hip surgery. Injuries prevented Lehner from playing nearly half last season. Now, he’s gone for all of the upcoming one. The Knights’ modus operandi of mortgaging the future to win the Stanley Cup at all costs is coming back to bite them.

Without Lehner, Vegas’ goaltending situation is rough for a team with Cup hopes, never mind one that's trying to get back to the playoffs after missing them for the first time last season.

If you gave a regular NHL fan a pop quiz and asked them to name any of the goalies behind Lehner, chances are they would fail. Laurent Brossoit, Logan Thompson and Michael Hutchinson will compete for the bulk of the starts.

While Thompson’s numbers were very good for Vegas (10-5-3, .914 save percentage in 19 games), they represent 95 percent of his NHL experience. He’s been very good for Vegas’ AHL team in Henderson the past two seasons as well, so there’s reason to be optimistic, but if that sounds like it leads to more questions than answers, you’d be correct.

Free agency is of no help to Vegas. The Golden Knights are in salary-cap hell, with minus-$5.8 million in space, and although Lehner’s injury and the addition of Shea Weber’s contract ($7.9 million AAV) will eventually provide them with a boatload of LTIR spending, it won't do them any good on the open market.

Ten free-agent goalies played at least one game last season, and seven of them are unrestricted. Braden Holtby is the biggest name on the list, but he’s unlikely to play this year because of a lower-body injury, and his career may even be over.

The rest of the unrestricted goalies are career backups or minimally experienced, and restricted free agents are generally a no-go unless there’s a trade.

Vegas could try to deal for a No. 1 goalie, but which NHL team would uproot its situation to swing a deal? The Islanders have Semyon Varlamov, who has one year remaining on his contract, but Isles general manager Lou Lamoriello has made it a point to say they’re keeping the veteran Russian despite Ilya Sorokin’s dominant play last season.

San Jose has James Reimer and Adin Hill who could be had, but the Sharks and Knights are already bitter rivals, so why help an enemy unless you’re making them pay the iron price?

All that aside, trades have done more harm than good for Vegas in their short history. The number of future selections former GM George McPhee and current GM Kelly McCrimmon moved out for players who either haven’t worked out or have already moved on is staggering for a franchise that’s been around for five years.

Look back to February 2018 when they gave up first-, second- and third-round picks to Detroit for Tomas Tatar, only to move Tatar in September of that year along with Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick for Max Pacioretty.

They then moved Pacioretty and Dylan Coghlan to Carolina a month ago for future considerations. Being able to take a major acquisition in which they gave up four total players, one a highly touted prospect who became a top-six center in Suzuki, and four draft picks while turning it into future considerations is staggering mismanagement.

Then there’s the Jack Eichel trade from November.

Vegas gave the Sabres Alex Tuch, prospect Peyton Krebs, a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick for Eichel and a future third-rounder. Eichel needed artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck and was desperate to get out of Buffalo, which should’ve left the Sabres without a lot of leverage for a deal.

Instead, Vegas gave up a solid veteran in Tuch—who would’ve thrived with the extra ice time that injuries to Pacioretty and Mark Stone would’ve provided—and Krebs, who is on the verge of becoming a regular in the NHL, and two more top-60 picks in the expectation that Eichel, who may not be the same player he was, can put them over the top.

Even dealing Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago last July was a mess of their own making after they acquired Lehner from the Blackhawks the year before as insurance. Adding another starting goalie when you’ve already got a multiple-time Stanley Cup winner between the pipes didn’t make much sense then and made much less once they were forced to move Fleury.

All those picks, all those prospects—all of them very well cost controlled on entry-level contracts—all in favor of experienced veterans with fat contracts. For each good deal they’ve made (Chandler Stephenson, Stone), there are so many that don’t mesh with how teams develop a starter organization.

Sin City is all about making gambles, but sometimes you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to walk away from the table.

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Salary-cap info via CapFriendly.

Toronto Maple Leafs legend Börje Salming announced Wednesday he has been diagnosed with ALS.

Salming said in a statement through the team he had "signs that indicated that something was wrong in my body."

"In an instant, everything changed," he said. "I do not know how the days ahead will be, but I understand that there will be challenges greater than anything I have ever faced. I also recognize that there is no cure but there are numerous worldwide trials going on and there will be a cure one day."

Today, Maple Leafs great Börje Salming shared a statement (below) on his health.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and all their fans around the world are sending you their love and support, Börje.

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) August 10, 2022

The Maple Leafs also provided a statement from Dr. Caroline Ingre, Salming's doctor:

"In recent decades, we have learned much more about the cause of ALS, and it has been shown that ALS is not a single disease. Instead, ALS is probably a collection of subgroups that all lead to the same symptom picture.

"ALS is a devastating disease that not only affects the muscles but can also affect personality and cognitive functions. The people affected by this disease experience a progressive muscle weakness. In about 70 percent of diagnoses, the disease starts with symptoms from the spinal cord, which increasingly weakens the patient's arms and legs, while in about 30 percent it starts around the mouth and throat, leading to slurred speech and difficulties swallowing."

Salming spent all but one of his 17 years in the NHL with Toronto, finishing up with the Detroit Red Wings in 1989-90.

The Sweden native signed with the Leafs ahead of the 1973-74 season and appeared in 1,099 games for the team, finishing with 148 goals and 620 assists. A six-time All-Star, he's third all-time among Maple Leafs players in appearances, first in assists and fourth in points. His plus-150 plus/minus is second only to Tim Horton.

Salming was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also named one of the NHL's 100 greatest players when the league celebrated its centennial in 2017.

It's been nearly a month since NHL free agency began, and many of the top players who hit the market signed contracts long ago. Not Nazem Kadri. The 31-year-old center is still available, even though he's coming off a career season.

But there have been plenty of rumors surrounding Kadri, who has drawn a lot of reported interest from various teams. And soon enough, he should sign a deal with one of them.

While numerous franchises may remain in the mix, one team that appears to be a possible fit for Kadri is the New York Islanders.

On Tuesday, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that he's heard from other teams that the Islanders have offered Kadri a seven-year contract with an average annual value in the range of $7 million. But Seravalli isn't certain it's a sure thing that Kadri will be taking that deal.

"My understanding is [Kadri’s camp] has continued to engage with other teams. For all the reports that Nazem Kadri has something locked up with the New York Islanders, I think that's premature to say," Seravalli said on The DFO Rundown.

Could that mean Kadri is still looking for more money? That isn't yet clear. But Seravalli believes he and the Isles may not be on the exact same page yet.

"At this point, obviously it's not signed, and the fact that they continue to talk to other teams tells me at least that they also haven’t agreed to terms with the New York Islanders," Seravalli said. "May he end up there? It's certainly possible, but they also need to move money in order to make it work."

Seravalli reported that the Calgary Flames have also shown interest in Kadri. There's been plenty of buzz about a potential return to the Colorado Avalanche. So Kadri may still have options.

But that doesn't matter. Kadri should sign with the Islanders, especially because it seems unlikely he's going to get a ton of long-term deals offered to him at this stage in his career.

If New York is willing to give Kadri a seven-year contract, that's likely longer than some other teams would do. And that would guarantee that he'd have a deal through the end of his age-38 season.

The Islanders are one of the teams with the most financial flexibility in the NHL at this point in the offseason, with $11.185 million in available cap space (per CapFriendly). They have several restricted free agents they haven't yet signed, so they may need to make a move or two to clear room for Kadri still. But it could be easier for them to do so than it would be for several other potential suitors.

According to CapFriendly, the Avalanche have $3.91 million in available cap space while the Flames have $2.76 million free.

Plus, Kadri joining the Isles would be a great fit for both sides. New York would be getting a talented offensive player who tallied a career-high 87 points (28 goals and 59 assists) last season for Colorado and now has the valuable experience of winning a Stanley Cup.

The Islanders could also be in a position to soon compete for a title themselves. They made the playoffs every year from 2019-21, and although they missed the postseason this past season, they have enough talented players to get back there during the 2022-23 campaign.

New York has a solid young core, and adding Kadri to the mix as a veteran leader would potentially help take it to the next level.

So, Kadri doesn't need to wait much longer. He should sign with the Islanders at the rumored terms they're offering and get to work trying to help this franchise improve into the future.